Darlington Mowden Park 7 Birmingham Moseley 15

ATTEMPTS to attract more people to rugby are not helped by over-zealous officials ruining the game as a spectacle.

Mowden managed to reverse the downward trend of crowds on Saturday, pulling in 1,079 helped by staging a double-header with the Sharks. But any newcomers would be unlikely to be tempted back by the National One fare.

Crowds around the country are down, as are participation levels among seniors, and it doesn't help if officials show no interest in letting matches flow.

Passes in this game needed to be only fractionally forward, or throw-ins marginally off line, for the whistle to blow. The scrums were the usual mess and penalties were frequent.

The worst decision robbed Mowden of a try when they were leading 7-5. Five minutes later Moseley were awarded a penalty try and the penalty they kicked eight minutes after the break was the only score of a scrappy second half.

Mowden knew they were in for a tough run with trips to Plymouth and Loughborough followed by the visit of second-placed Moseley. But the failure to gain any points has seen them slip to 11th.

They are better than that, but they found last season that a settled side helps and they are some way from that with people coming back from injury.

There have been various back row permutations and they will continue when skipper Ollie Hodgson and the dynamic Simon Uzokwe are fit.

In the face of excellent defence, Moseley showed little flair and were never likely to score from open play. Both their tries resulted from line-out drives and they might have had more but for poor throws.

They went ahead after 12 minutes, but Mowden came back with the only creative try of the match. Lock Talite Vaioleti appeared at outside centre to make a strong break before the ball was moved left and full back Will Murray finished well.

Previously selected on the wing, he looked a threat, while wingers Adam Radwan and Joel Gill were lively on the few occasions they had the ball.

Caolan Ryan's conversion put Mowden ahead and his chip after 35 minutes should have produced a try. James Fitzpatrick gathered the ball and his offload to Chris Auld put his fellow centre clear with 25 metres to go.

Although the ball had gone to ground, it had not gone forward, yet the officials decided there had been a knock-on.

It was a crucial errror in a tight game and when Moseley kicked another penalty to the corner and rumbled for the line Mowden's interference resulted in the penalty try.

Foiling another catch-and-drive 14 minutes into the second half earned acting captain James Penman a yellow card, but Mowden looked the more likely to score during his absence until Moseley were denied a try by a forward pass.

Although generally under pressure, there was always a chance that Mowden would break out and score. But the closest they came was when Auld made good ground from a quickly-taken penalty.

Ryan tried a long-range shot at goal with the last kick in the hope of securing a bonus point. But to no avail.

In an entertaining Women's Premiership game, Mowden Sharks pushed champions Richmond all the way before losing 28-20. Former England skipper Katy McLean, back after her stint with England Sevens, scored a try and added a penalty plus a conversion.